Convert Sliding Door to Pocket Door

Sliding Doors / make it a pocket / but make it removable

There are basic reasons that individuals decide to install sliding doors for closets, bathrooms, or other openings within the home. Normally the issue of space and convenience will commonly dictate the selection of a sliding type of door.

One of the basic negative issues with a sliding door is the actual hardware that the door hangs on, and the need to access the slides or glides that the door moves across. This hardware will deteriorate or require periodic maintenance during the lifetime of the door, and if the sliding hardware is not readily accessible, will cause an issue.

One creative method that I have used, to eliminate this common issue, is to close off the sliding side of the door and the area below the sliding hardware, with a removable panel. This panel can be designed to accommodate whatever type of architectural look, which will accommodate the interior of your home.

If contemporary, the panel can actually be glass or a mirror surface that is attached with common screws or latches. This panel can be removed at will, to accommodate any maintenance of the sliding track for the door.

If a colonial design, a nice wood panel will suffice to cover the area below the sliding door mechanism or slide.

Why develop a panel or another type of removable wall surface to be located below the sliding assembly?

If you have not created a panel, which will affectively fill in the space that the door will travel into the area on this sliding part of the door cannot be used as a wall surface. If you do not fill in this area, you cannot hang your bathroom towels, a picture, or any other common architectural feature on the wall.

Without filling in this area below the sliding mechanism, and creating an artificial pocket door, you are forced to keep this area of the wall free from any other use.

If you accommodate this infill, with a removable panel, this entire wall can be used to support anything that you may want. There can be towel racks assembled on this panel, hooks for clothes, pictures, shelves, or almost anything that can be attached to a common wall surface.

By making this panel removable, the replacement or maintenance of the door sliding mechanism is easy, and does not require the demolition of the entire wall assembly, like the repair of a common pocket door.

Use your imagination and the sliding door can be a useful and interesting way of providing an operating door, without the sacrifice of the entire wall alongside the sliding portion of the door.